The Legendary Five
by DarkCrono316
Summary: Chapter 4: Battle at South Tide Part I: The Mercenary village of South Tide has remained a neutral power in Tyseria for ages.  Crisis will occur when they once again deny becoming part of the White Alliance. R&R please!
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Deep in the Tyranian Desert far from any other civilization stood a small fortress made of black stone. Within the fortress at the very highest point in the Northern Tower, a powerful sage sat on an emerald throne in a very dimly lit room. This sage wore a black cloak and had his entire body covered. He also kept his face in the shadows, not even his closest subordinates knew of his true appearance. At the foot of his throne stood two of his strongest warriors; Lyon the Beast Tamer and Draco the Dragoon.

"Your Excellency," Draco spoke "It appears the time to strike the White Alliance is upon us. We await your orders."

"We were hoping that if you deemed it necessary, we could hear more about your strategy to rid our region of the Alliance's tyranny." Lyon spoke, his brave voice showing some concern for the fact that he may be speaking out of line. "In the past year, your actions have been so mysterious that not even we know the full extent of what is going on with the Resistance. We don't doubt you're resolve…but I must confess, the ignorance I feel is becoming overbearingly uncomfortable."

"Your concern is understandable." The mysterious sage spoke and his deep voice filled the room. "Much will be understood as my plan unravels before your eyes, that much I can promise you. Because you have been bold enough to ask, I will enlighten you a little on the actions I have taken. Over the past year I have traveled around the vast region of Tyseria to discover warriors of immeasurable potential. I was able to find five extraordinary warriors, each with very different gifts and the desire to bring peace to our region. They have been brought to secret locations and have been specially trained by other powerful sages from within my Order. None of them know of the existence of the others, and very shortly they will be released from their Keeps to go on top secret missions that will set into motion things that will completely turn the White Alliance upside down."

"Can these warriors truly be worthy of the responsibility you are enlisting in them?" Draco asked with much doubt in his mind. "Master, could they really be more powerful then Lyon and I?"

"Draco my friend," The mysterious sage spoke with a smile that nobody could see, "I believe that when you hear about the feats of these warriors, even you will acknowledge their merit. My brave warriors and loyal subjects, we find ourselves within the dawn of Revolution. The days of the White Alliance's tyranny are reaching their ends as my Legendary Five are soon to rise from the shadows."


	2. Kango Infiltration

**Chapter One**

**Kango Infiltration**

It was late in the evening and all seemed quiet and under control within the White Alliance's small base located on the outskirts of the Kango Forest. This base frequently used by the Alliance to hold prisoners who were soon to be executed. Earlier in the evening, a small company of four mercenaries were apprehended not far from Kango's Keep and were brought to the depths of the Alliance's dungeon for interrogation.

Deep within the prison in a dimly lit room, the mercenary captain, Katt was tied with tight rope to an uncomfortable chair. Katt had bright red hair, feline ears, a long orange tail, and fingers with sharp finger nails. It was clear that this woman was from the Beast tribe

Before even asking his first question, an Alliance knight smacked the Mercenary Captain across the face. As the hard white metal gauntlet hit Katt's face, her head jerked to the left and she spat out blood. Katt did not scream, grunt, or even curse to show her pain. She simply took a moment to regroup herself and turned and glared at the knight in white armor. He had well kept short blonde hair and cold blue eyes. He showed no signs of fear, as he gave Katt a very arrogant smile. It was clear that he was clearly enjoying his job.

"So I guess we're skipping the small talk part." Katt said sarcastically, her voice flaring with sass.

"I've learned that dealing with _your_ kind," the knight spoke, "that being serious and to the point is far more effective."

"A typical knight of the White Alliance…" Katt grumbled, "Prejudice and with no sense of humor."

The knight ignored Katt's comment and held up a large steel lance and began speaking again. "You and your small band of sellswords were found in this forest carrying confidential plans of the White Alliance. It is obvious by looking at the emblem on these letters, tactics, and such that these documents DO NOT belong to you…and it's not nice to take things that don't belong to you. I'm only going to ask you once, where did you get these documents from, and who were you taking them to?"

Katt said nothing, she simply glared at the knight with the resolve that clearly stated that he would get no information out of her. The knight waited a few moments with the hopes that for once, just by asking the question, he would get his answer. To no surprise of the knight, this simple tactic did not work.

"Take her back to her cell." The knight spoke to the guards at the door, "And let's bring one of her friends down here…maybe the sub-human will be willing to talk more after we have some fun with one of her comrades. Do me a favor and bring me the one that looks like he is the weakest and youngest among the group."

The guards forced Katt out of her chair and brought her back to her prison cell. Meanwhile in the largest and most central room of the Kango Keep, General Morovan reviewed the secret documents found off the latest prisoners. He shook his head in disdain.

"Such incompetence on the parts of our allies to have lost such important documents." General Morovan spoke to his soldiers. "It was lucky that we caught those mercenaries when we did…We will need to return these plans to the White Alliance Capital as soon as possible."

As the General was speaking, the door to the central room quickly opened and a fighter rushed in with terror in his eyes.

"General!" the fighter spoke as his voice quivered, "Our Keep is being invaded! We're under attack!"

"What are you doing here then?" General Morovan yelled angrily as he grabbed his two massive buster swords. "You should be among the front lines fighting the opposing troops!"

"Sir it's unlike I've ever seen!" the fighter responded, "That's why I rushed here when I could…Sir, an army is not invading us, it is just one man! He is incredibly skilled!"

-  
>Meanwhile at the front gate dozens of soldiers rushed to prevent the invader from reaching the inside of the Alliance's Kango outpost. This one man stood on the drawbridge within the shadows where it was hard to clearly make out his physical features. If people could have seen him, they would have noticed that he was of average height, about five foot eight, with light blue hair and a grey headband. His body was tan and very well toned. The man wielded two stilettos and moved incredibly swiftly stabbing and slicing his enemies. Dozens of expertly trained soldiers rushed the invader and none of them seemed to be able to touch the warrior. At one point, one of the higher ranked Halberdiers appeared to have knocked the knife wielder off the bridge. The remaining soldiers stood quietly, unknown whether to assume the battle to be over or not.<p>

Out of the silence and from the other side of the drawbridge, the warrior with light blue hair leaped high in the air, slashing numerous soldiers and finally shoving one of his knives into the skull of the skilled Halberdier.

"My name is Kyle," the man spoke to the bridge full of dead soldiers. "And don't feel bad for falling so easily to my stilettos. They have been dipped in toxic hydra venom. If any of the poison gets into your blood stream, it's instant death."

Kyle stepped over the dead bodies and rushed into the Keep. As he entered he observed many archers readying their bows, prepared to shoot him before he got close to them. Kyle sheaved both his weapons and assumed a position like a dog, on all four limbs. Suddenly his eyes turned red and his entire body was covered in blue fur matching his hair. Now in his feral wolf form, Kyle raced towards each archer.

Though they tried to fire barrages of arrows, Kyle's heightened senses allowed him to hear as the arrows came his way. He dodged many shots and leaped over several arrows as he made his way to each archer, biting them all violently in the neck. The Laguz warrior knew the reality of his orders that nobody who saw him was allowed to live. Kyle raced through the keep to the center room killing every solider that got in his way.

The wolf rushed into the open door to find nobody but the large and heavily armored General Morovan, wielding two massive buster swords made out of solid silver. The general looked through his massive and fearsome helm at the blue wolf. He had never seen such a Laguz before, even among the beast tribe. In his travels, he heard rumors of a Lupine subsection of the beast tribe that was rendered extinct years ago, but never did he think he would actually see one.

"The road stops for you here, infiltrator." The general's voice bellowed through the room. "No beast can get through this armor!"

General Morovan rushed towards Kyle swinging his two massive silver blades. The wolf moved swiftly and leaped high dodging each swing which would have brought certain death. As the swords missed Kyle and hit the ground and walls of the building the impact was so great it created massive destruction. Walls crumbled and the floor began having impact craters. Kyle simply used the debris and rubble to aid his dodging.

"Stand still you worthless pup!" General Morovan yelled in rage as he continued to swing his massive swords.

Kyle paused briefly, giving the illusion that he dropped his guard. Morovan let out a victorious shout as he swung his left blade down towards the blue wolf. Kyle leaped backwards dodging the sword, and then lunged forwards. His paws raced across the giant blade as Morovan looked in horror, realizing his grave mistake. Dropping his other blade, Morovan tried to punch the Laguz. Kyle quickly bit down on the white shiny armor of the general. Morovan let out a terrified shriek as he realized that Kyle's teeth were strong enough to bite through his massive and durable armor that promised nothing could get through it.

"What a grave mistake I have made, underestimating this mysterious creature!" Morovan thought as Kyle bit his arm off and spit it off. Kyle's next bite found itself on the general's neck, killing him instantly.

The wolf did a backflip off the dead alliance leader and walked towards the large stack of secret documents, as he reverted to his human form. As Kyle's cloths reappeared thanks to Laguz magic and his eyes turned from bloodlust red to their normal light blue, he reached into his backpack to take out a small crystal ball. Kyle lightly tossed the crystal ball in front of him and the object began to float and glow.

"I have retrieved the Alliance's tactics and strategies from Kango." Kyle spoke, "My mission is complete."

"Very good." An unrecognizable voice came from the glowing crystal ball. "I will use my magic to transfer those documents to my location. Without letting yourself be noticed, release every prisoner in that dump before you leave. You will receive new orders shortly."

The secret documents began to glow as well and quickly disappeared. As the documents faded so did the glowing light around Kyle's crystal ball. He put it back in his backpack and turned around to leave the room. As he turned his eyes noticed the cowardly fighter who narrowly escaped him earlier.

"Long live the Alliance!" The warrior yelled as he lunged towards Kyle with his hatchet.

The sole survivor in the room took Kyle by surprised and the hatchet was able to cut deep into Kyle's arm. Kyle quickly whirled around, drew one of his knives and stabbed the fighter in the neck, killing him instantly. On the fighter Kyle found a ring with several keys on it.

"What luck!" Kyle thought to himself as he took the key ring and ran through the shadows to find the stairs in the keep that led to the dungeon. Avoiding the guards was very easy as Kyle was sneaky, and they all were distracted with the death of the general.

Kyle stopped at the edge of cell and tossed the keys inside the jail. He looked around the corner to speak to the prisoners inside.

"I will take care of the remaining alliance knights, take this chance to release all the prisoners and get out of here!"

Katt grabbed the keys that slid under the cell bars and looked at the pair of blue eyes that she could see through the shadows. They were clearly not human, and she recognized them as some kind of Laguz and had to know who was helping her. "Who are you?"

"That's not important." Kyle yelled as he ran up the stairs to fight off incoming soldiers. "Just get out of here!"

Katt disregarded the man who gave her the keys and unlocked the cell door. She turned around to her cell mates and fellow mercenaries and yelled. "Come on guys! We're getting out of here!"

Katt and her team rushed out of the cell and unlocked the other cells, releasing all the prisoners. With the exception of Katt's three companions, all the other prisoners were townsfolk and laypeople with no battle experience.

"These people are just normal townsfolk!" Katt said to her team, "We have to get them out of here!"

The cat lady looked at the end of the prison far from the cells to see all of her team's weapons. She rushed over, and grabbed all the items and brought them to her group. She kept her quarter staff and threw the arcane spell book her crew's mage, Titus.

"Our first objective is to get these people to safety!" Katt spoke, "Titus can you blow us a hole out of here!"

"You got it, Katt!" The red haired mage spoke. "Here comes a large fireball! Everyone stand away from that wall!"

The other two Mercenaries, Hrothgar and Wesley led the scared group of people away from the wall as Titus sent a massive fireball to the stone that instantly incinerated them an easy way out of the keep.

The four mercenaries led the people away from the keep and into the Kango Forest. Halfway to the nearest village, Katt stopped. The other mercenaries paused as well looking at her.

"What are you doing Katt?" Hrothgar, a fellow member of the beast tribe, asked her.

"We have to keep moving!" Wesley the nomad spoke. "That one guy couldn't have been enough to keep the entire outpost of the Alliance at bay…they'll be coming after us soon!"

"There was something different about him." Katt said, unsure of what she even meant by those words. "I'm going back to just check things out, get these people to the closest village."

"But…" Titus began arguing.

"That's an order!" Katt declared as she glared at her team. "Don't make me repeat myself!"

With that, Katt turned around and transformed into her large cat form as she ran back towards the Kango Keep.

After Kyle had easily killed every White Alliance warrior in the outpost and used torches plus the fire from the hole that the prisoners escaped from to set the rest of the building on fire to ensure no survivors he left the outpost. It was as he was walking through the dense forest that Kyle remembered he had taken a cheapshot from the fighter in the center room of the keep which had left a very deep cut. Now with much less blood then before, Kyle fell to the ground dizzy and close to losing consciousness.

"Crap…" Kyle muttered, "I was so caught up in making sure nobody saw me I forgot about that gash the guy gave me with his axe…"

"Hey!" Katt said as she raced through the forest to Kyle's body. "Get up man, are you okay?"

"You again?" Kyle said, annoyed at seeing the prisoner he had rescued. "I thought I said to…"

"Get the prisoners and leave…" Katt finished his sentence, "I know, and I did…but then I figured you needed a hand so I came back…I'm glad I did…I'm going to get you back to town before you're condition gets any worse!"

Not many seconds after that statement Kyle fainted from blood loss. Katt picked up the warrior and slowly made her way back down the trail that she had led her mercenaries through. She knew that a small Kango village wasn't far from here, and she could nurse the warrior back to life there. Katt chuckled to herself as she took a look at the young warrior.

"We'll be even then." She said to him softly. "You saved my life, and I saved yours."

After speaking, Katt's facial expression got very serious. "With that said, who is this guy? He made it out alive of that Keep with nothing but an intense gash on his arm and judging from all that fire from behind us, I'd be willing to guess that he massacred every soldier in there. He's absolutely unreal!"


	3. The Fall of Kilgore

**Chapter Two**

**The Fall of Kilgore**

It was beautiful sunny day, and the lush green grass in of the rolling plains near the White Alliance's slave labor outpost, Kilgore, practically radiated with peace. Within the walls of Kilgore, there were many tortured men, women, and children, forced to work on refining mined materials into weapons or armor. Not too far from Kilgore, within the Kilgore mines, the Alliance had more slaves working hard days with no breaks, not even for food, mining the materials that the slave outpost would soon refine.

High upon one of the largest hills within Kilgore's territory, Captain Slifer Graves overlooked the plains as his armed force of two hundred men on horseback prepared to squash a small rebel invasion that was soon to happen.

"What could those foolish people be thinking?" Graves thought to himself as he overlooked the currently peaceful plains. "A small band of rebels gathering from the nearby towns could not possibly withstand our troops guarding Kilgore. And yet intelligence we have clearly shows that the nearby three towns have secretly pulled together a militia with the hopes of overcoming our forced labor outpost. Those are all farming communities though…at the very most they could only have a force of fifty men, one hundred at the very most. What chance could they possibly stand against us?"

Captain Graves sighed as he reflected. The massacre that would be happening today would go down in history as one of the quickest and bloodiest almost battles in the Alliance's history. Graves couldn't help but pity them, as the militia literally stood no chance against his skilled force of mounted warriors. With or without his pity, however, Graves knew his orders…eliminate the entire militia. Take no prisoners, leave no survivors. Graves knew that these men, no matter how foolish their tactics may be, were invading the peace of Kilgore…and for that they had sealed their own fate.

Not far from where Graves had his army gathering, a force of seventy-five militia-men gathered. At their head was a farmer named Griffin. Griffin was thirty-five, a father of two, and married to his wife named Rebecca, who had been working as a slave within the Kilgore Keep for the past year and a half. Since the Alliance arrested his wife for false charges of theft, Griffin had been secretly scheming with village mayors in the three local towns to revolt and try to take down Kilgore. The nearby villages were tired of sending all their best crops, best workers, and money to the Alliance and wanted to make their mark in history through a revolt, whether it was successful or not. Griffin was not a military man and he didn't know the first thing of battle. The truth was, even though Griffin was a simple farmer, all he really wanted to do was see his wife one more time before he passed away.

As the militia gathered, another farmer from a town different from Griffin approached the uprising's leader as he looked past the plains in the direction of Kilgore.

"Griffin we have assembled every man and woman from the villages of Chem, Salia, and Dorcan who would be willing to fight in our revolt." The farmer spoke. "We're ready fight when you are."

Griffin looked towards his small group of people willing to lay down their lives in protest to the tyrannical government. Griffin prepared himself for as motivational speak as he could round up. "Men and women of the Kilgore province! To long have we been at the mercy of the White Alliance only to discover that they have no mercy at all! I am not guaranteeing to you today that we will completely destroy the hold that the Alliance has on our wonderful farming community. I won't lie to you…the odds are very well against us! But I can promise you one thing…after today, Kilgore and the White Alliance will know that we the people are unhappy, and WILL NOT stand for such injustice in our homeland! Today may be considered a fail in the eyes of history, but let it be today that we rouse the idea of revolution within the heads of our fellow townsfolk and all those that call the province of Kilgore Home!"

The crowd of seventy-five people yielding anything from rusty swords to long pitchforks lifted their weapons towards the sky and cheered loudly, acknowledging Griffin's thoughts as their own. Griffin started to run forward leading his men through the plains towards the Kilgore keep.

Sitting on the top of a tree overlooking the plains, the Conjurer Selena was able to see both armies preparing for battle. The young, twenty year old woman with blonde hair and blue eyes closed her eyes readying her spirit for her summoning spell. It was time for her to accomplish her mission. From the top of the tree, Selena withdrew her whip and began jumping down towards the ground, occasionally using the whip to catch tree limbs as not to fall to the ground to a certain death.

When Selena landed on the ground she walked forward about five miles and when she was close enough, the magician lifted the hood of her red cloak over her face as to hide her identity. She knelt to the ground, closed her eyes, and put her hand on the grass. She concentrated hard and focused her energy to the palm of her hand. Her breathing was one with the wind, and for a moment Selena was at complete peace and one with the universe.

Suddenly Selena opened her eyes and began reciting the summoning spell in a language long since forgotten by those that inhabited the earth. After Selena spoke the words, the ground trembled violently. The militia men froze in fear and they were unable to continue up the hill to meet the enemy in battle. Graves and his horsemen also became stationary, as they were unsure what was going on.

"Captain!" a young axe knight spoke to Graves, "What is going on?"

"I don't know." Graves yelled back at him, "Keep your posture men and stay vigilant! I am unsure what tactic these men are using, but we will face anything head on!"

"Captain!" Another one of his mounted soldiers, "Look there, in the middle of the field!"

Graves was beyond surprised as he looked and saw a giant humanoid golem made out of solid grey rock rise out of the ground slowly. It gave a terrible and deep roar that could be heard for miles as it grew in size to well over fifty feet tall. It's body was massive and it's arms were incredibly strong. As soon as the Golem was at its full size, it stuck it's large hands in the ground and dug deep. With one swift motion, the golem lifted a chunk of the earth and hurled it towards the army of two-hundred mounted soldiers. Many were crushed instantly to their death, but the more skilled knights (and those that were lucky enough to be far enough from the mass of land that came towards them) were able to move swiftly out of the way of the debris to dodge injury.

"Attack that thing!" Graves yelled to his troops as he jumped off his horse just in time to avoid being crushed by a piece of earth that flew his way. "Take it down!"

Many bow knights tried shooting arrows towards the golem, only to see that the arrows had no effect. The golem in return swung its massive arm and crushed all of the archers in one motion. In a matter of minutes, Captain's Grave battalion of horsemen went from two-hundred to less than twenty. Graves yelled to his surviving army "Run for your life!" as he himself took off in a direction to get as far from the Golem as possible.

Three horsemen rode east and caught a glimpse of Selena in her bright red cloak. One spoke to the others. "Look over there! She must have created the Golem, though I must say this is magic that I have never heard of!"

"Let's kill her!" one of the other knights spoke, as he readied his axe. "I'm sure if she's dead the golem will disappear!"

Selena noticed the three mounted soldiers ride towards her. One carried a lance, one carried a sword, and the other an axe. As she removed her hand from the ground, life left the mound of rocks that formed the Golem, and the rocks crumbled onto the ground crushing one or two brave mounted units that dared to continue to fight the monster. Selena withdrew her long whip and cracked it onto the ground in preparation for battle.

"She'll fall easily to us!" One of the mounted knights in white spoke. "Let us take revenge for our fallen comrades!"

The three horsemen surrounded Selena and rushed towards her. She jumped in the air and swung her whip towards the knight wielding the axe. The whip quickly wrapped itself around his neck and with one quick motion, Selena pulled him off the horse. As the knight fell off, Selena lunged forward, did a front flip, and jumped on the horse. The noise of the whip and the sudden change of weight on it's back spooked the animal, and the horse began reacting very unpredictably, accidently stepping on the legs of the axe man who found himself on the ground. The sword knight and lance knight rushed towards Selena, now from opposite directions. Selena jumped in the air and twirled around, sending her whip towards the lance knight, and grabbing his lance and throwing it towards the swords man. The lance came towards the sword knight so quickly that it also knocked him off his horse. Selena, upon hitting the ground began running towards the tree that she first sat upon and lashed her whip onto the tree to start climbing.

Meanwhile on the ground, as the horses ran far from the battle scene to preserve their life , the knights regrouped. Both the lancer and sword knight helped the one wielding his axe to his feet. All three looked very perplexed.

"What on earth just happened?" the axe knight spoke as the pain in his legs made him moan in discomfort.

"Where did she go?" The sword night spoke as he picked up his sword that he dropped. "Let's finish this, woman!"

"Clide, calm yourself!" The lancer spoke. "I seriously doubt a woman with that much skill with a whip could fall easily to the three of us…Let us return to Kilgore Keep and regroup with the rest of the survivors. Remember we're not breaking orders by retreating now…Captain Graves already gave us the orders to retreat."

"You're right." Clide spoke, "We must return to the keep anyway…I'm sure it won't be long before the militia takes it over. Let us not forget that our entire army just was destroyed by that magician's golem…it appears we have lost this fight!"

As the soldiers began walking towards Kilgore, from the top of the tree, Selena withdrew a small crystal ball from her cloak's pocket. As she touched it, the crystal began to glow and Selena spoke.

"I've destroyed the White Alliance's army at Kilgore, shall I take down the keep as well?"

"No." an unrecognizable voice from the orb spoke, "Leave that to the militia. Your mission is complete…Good job."

Selena sighed as the crystal's light faded. She did not fancy battle, but the art of survival had become second nature to her…being the only sorceress of her kind left. Ever since the Order of Conjurers had been destroyed many years ago by White Alliance troops at the very beginning of their regime, Selena swore that she would never let the strong take advantage of the weak if her power could prevent it.

Griffin and his militia made their way through the destroyed land, killing any soldiers that were just barely alive from the rock slide and Golem attack who didn't surrender. Griffin himself found one particular knight trapped under several rocks unconscious. The farmer seriously considered killing him, especially when he saw the insignia on his armor showing that he was the leader of these troops but as the Griffin held his weapon high, ready to take the man's life, he realized he was unable to kill him. Griffin was moments away from seeing his wife's beautiful face, and he did not want to return to her a murderer.

"Take this man with us as a prisoner." Griffin said to a couple of laypeople near him. "We will march on to Kilgore which is likely to be completely unguarded as their entire army has just been decimated! I don't know what that golem was, but it has won this impossible victory for us! We should be grateful, Kilgore is ours and we can return peace to the land once again!"

Meanwhile, very far from the Kilgore providence, on the other side of Tyseria, in the small town of Glanesworth in the Kango forest, Katt and her mercenaries gathered in the elder's home and spoke with the town leaders about a very pressing matter.

"You have doomed us all!" A Glanesworth townsman spoke to Katt with hate in his voice. "Because you brought all those prisoners here, the Alliance is sending a strike force to come destroy our village! We aren't all fighters like you, what can we possibly do about this!"

"This is not the time for yelling or rage." The village elder quieted down his citizen. He looked at Katt and spoke again. "We are not warriors, but you and your friends are. We'd like to recruit you to protect our small village for us, since we do not have the power to do so."

"Yeah right!" Hrothgar said, holding back a chuckle, "Katt, I say we get our stuff and get out of here now before the Alliance troops come!"

"You can't be serious, man!" Titus exclaimed, shocked at his mercenary pal's lack of care for human life. "They are about to be invaded because of us, we can't just bail on them now."

"But consider it from Hrothgar's perspective." Wesley spoke, "There is no way we'd survive."

"Katt," Hrothgar spoke to his sister, his voice now showing compassion and a sign of warmth. "If we die here then…"

"I know." Katt cut him off, "Then we'd never be able to find Father…look, I think there is a way everyone can win here."

"What are you talking about?" The elder asked.

"The four of us…" Katt said as she looked out the door towards the medical hut in the village. "We couldn't protect you all from all the troops that are coming this way, but that guy I brought back….I've seen him decimate an entire castle full of Alliance soldiers…If we could get him up, I'm sure he'd help us!"

"Are you crazy?" Titus asked, "We don't know anything about that guy! He was pretty injured after just barely escaping Kango Keep, do you really think he could fight at all?"

"I don't know...He's not like us, but in a way…" Katt looked at her brother, "Hrothgar, he IS like us…I think this is the only morale option we have."

"You know we'll follow you wherever you go." Wesley spoke as he put his hand on Katt's back. "You make the order, and we'll follow!"

"Let's do it then!" Katt said as she grabbed her bowstaff and readied to leave the hut, "Let's wake that guy up, and ready ourselves for battle!"


	4. The White Knight of the Alliance

**Chapter Three**

**The Great White Knight of the Alliance**

It was late in the evening as a band of about thirty of the White Alliance's troops moved swiftly through the Kango Forest towards the small village of Glanesworth. These weren't just any soldiers but they were some of the Alliance finest and most elite. Among the thirty, their leader was the Great White Knight of the Alliance, Grand General Gatsu. The general sat in a white armor plated carriage that was being pushed by two stallions, as the rest of his troops followed mounted on horseback.

"Did you hear about this guy that we're going after?" One of the soldiers spoke to his comrade who rode beside him. "I heard he single handedly killed every alliance soldier in the Kango Keep, including General Morovan. That's pretty incredible, considering that Morovan used to ride with us but because of his merit with his swords and his leadership potential he was promoted to be the Commander of the Kango Keep."

"There's no way that could be true." The second soldier retorted, "Think about it…if this guy killed everyone in the Kango Keep, then how did we get word back that only one man was able to overthrow the Keep?"

"Oh please!" The first soldier spoke as he rolled his eyes, "Don't you ever read your mission reports before we go into battle? We discovered that there were prisoners, and this guy, hiding out at Kangor Village after one of the escaped prisoners came to the Alliance and offered to trade information for a free trip to any region far from Tyseria and away from the White Alliance's grip. I'd say that's a small price to pay to catch and kill this guy, right?"

"I guess you could be right…" The second solider spoke as he pondered that statement, "It would go along with all those strange rumors I have been hearing about lately regarding certain Alliance owned capitals and outposts being mysteriously destroyed by skilled warriors. The crazy thing is that anytime there is a report of how those capitals fell, there is one fact that always stays the same…One person did all the work. Makes you wonder, is thirty men really enough to take down a guy who, theoretically, took out an entire castle?"

"Don't forget our leader!" The first soldier, as he beamed with pride. "Grand General Gatsu has the strength of one hundred men. We have nothing to worry about with him on our side!"

Not too far from where the Alliance troops were closing in, back in the village of Kango in the medical hut located in the center of the village, Kyle slowly opened his eyes. As his vision returned, Kyle noticed a lady peering down at him. Without thinking twice, the Laguz jumped up, grabbed the woman with his feet and slammed her down on the bed that he was on. Kyle then began to squeeze his legs tightly.

"Where am I?" Kyle demanded, "and who are you?"

"You're in the village of Kango!" The woman spoke frantically, struggling to breathe, "and I am your nurse…please let me go! I'm just trying to help!"

"Hey!" a masculine voice yelled at Kyle. "Let her go, NOW!"

Kyle turned his head to see Katt and one of her mercenary companions at the door of the hut. While Katt was slightly shorter with short red hair and a orange tail, her friend was a massive man with rippling biceps, dark forest green hair, and a green tail. The man snarled at Kyle as Katt looked at him sternly.

"Get off her!" Katt spoke, "She has fixed your arm up, the least you could do is not kill her."

Kyle released the tension in his legs and let the nurse free. She ran out of the room as Kyle rose to his feet and looked at the two other Laguz. He considered killing them now and destroying the entire village to keep his identity a secret. That thought quickly left his head because as much as he hated to admit it, the nurse had fixed his arm up pretty well, and Katt did rescue him even if he never asked her to. Without saying anything, Kyle began walking towards the exit.

"Hey we're not done with you yet!" The green haired Laguz spoke, "Sit back down, we're going to have a little chat."

"Calm down, Hrothgar!" Katt said as she put her hand on his shoulder. "You'll have to excuse my brother, in dangerous times such as this he gets a little stressed…and a little snippy."

"Words could not describe how little I care about your brother or his snippy attitude." Kyle said calmly as he continued to walk forward. "Thanks for saving my life, now I must go before things get really bad. You shouldn't have saved my life; things may get very rough for this little town if I don't leave soon."

"What was I supposed to do?" Katt spoke, as Kyle walked past her and now was standing in the entrance to the medical hut. "Let you die? No chance, especially since you had just saved OUR lives! And the thing is…I think things have kind of already gotten worse."

Kyle looked back to Katt who now was slowly twiddling her thumbs and giggling nervously. He stared at her now, giving her his attention.

"You see…" Katt said, "Yesterday we got word that the Alliance was sending some troops here to destroy the town and any escaped prisoner that was taking refuge….there is also a good chance that they're wanting to kill you as well, seeing how you basically leveled their keep all on your own. The village hired me and my boys to protect them, but we can't on our own. Wesley scouted ahead and counted thirty mounted units coming our way. We were hoping since your life is kind of on the line as well, you could join us, at least for this battle?"

Kyle pondered this for a moment and then spoke. "Nope, I'm out of here. Looks like you and everyone in this town needs to leave as well, otherwise you all will be slaughtered."

"We can't do that!" Katt retorted, now her voice hissing with anger. "These people won't just get up and leave their home and let it get destroyed…do you even have a heart? Can you imagine what it's like losing your entire home?"

For a moment, Kyle's emotionless pale blue eyes flared with an anger that startled not only Katt but Hrothgar as well. He glared at her with rage, and then his eyes returned to their calm status.

"Stay if you want." Kyle spoke coldly as he walked outside, "But you probably won't live."

"Katt," Hrothgar spoke to his sister, "You know his entire home HAS been destroyed by the Alliance…how could you think that reminding him of that would help you're cause of getting him to fight with us?"

"It was a dumb move…" Katt said with a grim face, regretting her words, "I wasn't thinking, I just blurted it out…but I'm not done with that guy yet!"

"Hold on!" Hrothgar said as he rushed outside to continue speaking to Kyle. "Have you a name?"

Kyle paused again and spoke. "Kyle."

"And your REAL name?" Katt said as she came out of the hut. "Look, Kyle…if that's what you want us to call you…Hrothgar and I know about what you are…you're a Laguz like us. Which means that human name is clearly a FAKE! But you're more than just a regular Laguz aren't you? We're all from the Beast tribe, that's obvious…But Hrothgar and I are unable to mask our tails, yet you seem to be able to do so. It took us a while to figure that out, but after a lot of thinking I vaguely remember a sub sect of the Beast tribe, the wolves, that discovered the ability to fully mask their presence among humans. They were able to mask their red eyes and hide their tails. The beasts at one point exiled the wolf tribe for their unethical use of violence in Tyseria. When that happened, people started hunting the wolves out of hatred and the rest of the Beast tribe did nothing to help their brethren. And then, about seventeen years ago the White Alliance discovered the last village of wolves and hired the Bear tribe to completely decimate the entire town, killing every wolf. I am guessing that at least one survived, and that one is you…isn't it Kyle? I apologize for that crass comment earlier about losing your hometown, but perhaps you can relate to the fears of these people?"

"So we're all Laguz…" Kyle spoke as he too smelled the fact that Katt and Hrothgar were not humans. "Does this make you feel like you have a bond to me? That you can relate? Well forget it…Yes, the Alliance is no friend of mine because they destroyed my home seventeen years ago…but the Beast tribe is no friend of mine because they chose to do nothing about it…Why should I help you guys save some town I don't even care about when you and your people were nowhere to be seen when my town needed the help of the beasts?"

"First of all…" Katt spoke sternly, "Do not lump us with the rest of the Beast Tribe! Remember that we're mercenaries working with HUMANS…any remotely smart Laguz would know that means that we've either left the tribe on our own free will or have been exiled. Secondly, don't you at all feel some obligation of saving these people from the hands of the Alliance? The way I see it, there has to be some ounce of something good in you since you saved all of us back in Kango. Also, one can't deny the fact that had you not rescued us, Glanesworth would not be in danger of being completely destroyed by the Alliance. Like it or not, Kyle…this is your fight!"

Kyle said nothing, but continued walking towards the edge of the forest away from Glanesworth. Katt continued to pursue him, but Hrothgar held his sister back.

"Forget about him." Hrothgar spoke to his sister, with a inkling of disappointment in his voice that only his sister could pick up on. "That jerk won't help us at all."

"Whatever." Katt said, as she burned with anger towards Kyle. "Wesley is still on his way back from scouting, but let's get Titus here and plan out our battle strategy."

From a distance Kyle watched in amazement as the three mercenaries created a plan of attack to defend the village from the Alliance. He couldn't help but be impressed with the trio as they worked so hard to come up with a successful plan to take out the alliance band coming their way, even though they'd probably be defeated. Kyle very much wanted to leave the village and move on to his next destination, but deep down in his gut, he knew this was where he needed to be. He considered the risk of his identity being compromised more than it already had been. For his current purpose as a covert enemy of the Alliance, aiding in this town defense was counter-productive. With that said, Kyle wasn't thinking rationally at the moment, because all he could consider was the feelings he had when he was three years old and he stepped out of his house back in Crescent and watched as bears slaughtered his entire race. He ran away, feeling completely helpless and hid under a large rock next to very smelly plants that masked his scent from the bear. From that point on, Kyle swore vengeance first and foremost on the Bear tribe for destroying his hometown, but also on the Alliance for paying the monsters to do such a horrible act of injustice. Kyle realized in this moment that he could not sit and be idle as these three mercenaries walked into certain death, especially when he knew he could prevent it.

"Your tactic of rushing the enemy in a sneak and surprise attack is typically a wise one." Kyle said as he walked out from the trees back to the center of the village. "Except in this case, you are making the wrong choice."

"What do you mean?" Katt asked, surprised, relieved, and overjoyed that Kyle had come back.

"Consider the enemy's strategy." Kyle spoke. "One of their highly secure keeps was just destroyed by a single man and they are sending a small force of thirty units to kill him and destroy a town, which is bound to have some kind of small security. If they KNOW that their enemy potentially has the power to destroy an entire keep alone, why are they only sending thirty troops? It's clear that these soldiers are highly trained, and my guess is that their leader is a formidable foe that feels confident in his or her ability to defeat any enemy, even one that could level an entire base alone."

"What are you saying?" Titus asked, very confused by Kyle's words.

"To put it plainly…" Kyle said calmly, "If you rush the enemy, you all will probably be wiped out quickly and then you'd leave the village defenseless. If our objective is to protect Glanesworth, you all will fail miserably with this strategy."

"Ok, tough guy…" Hrothgar spoke, acknowledging Kyle's superior military tactics. "What would you recommend?"

"We can save the city, but it won't be without cost to them." Kyle spoke. "This village is small but has many open areas that the enemy can surprise us in. We will set fire to all these areas except one, and in that one area all the townsfolk will reside and you all will protect them. By creating a wall of fire around this area, we will not only create a small wall of defense for you to fight under, but we'll also eliminate the element of surprise that the enemy could have. I will go on ahead and strike the Alliance head on. I'll do my best to eliminate as many of their soldiers as I can, but I'd imagine in a short amount of time their true warrior will reveal himself and I'll battle him and eliminate him far from the town."

"I get it…" Titus spoke, "With your strategy you're basically forcing the Alliance to go with the battle strategy that you are planning for them to make. When they come down the path you're forcing them to come, we'll be ready to take them out in a smaller capacity and in closer quarters. The scheme is very well thought out and, dare I say it, genius."

"I actually think we can pull this off guys!" Katt spoke, "Kyle, we're ready to move when you are!"

"If you want I can go up with you and help you eliminate some of the enemies." Hrothgar offered, "We aren't just total novices in battle…I could come in handy!"

"Might I remind you that I had to rescue YOUR furry butt from prison." Kyle spoke arrogantly to Hrothgar, "Also, you'd just slow me down if I had to work to keep you alive. But if you're looking for an answer that will make you feel better about yourself, you'll be helping me plenty by fighting the remains of the army here."

"You miserable little…" Hrothgar began to growl but once again his sister put her hand on his shoulder.

"Hrothgar!" Katt spoke sternly, "He's being a jerk, but Kyle's right! In order for this plan to be a success, we have to be here and work together to keep the town safe."

"I'm on my way then." Kyle spoke as he began running into the forest. "I can smell exactly where the enemies are. You have about thirty minutes before they strike!"

As Kyle transformed into his blue wolf form and took off, Titus began creating a massive wall of fire with his magic as Katt and Hrothgar escorted the townsfolk to a safe area.

"Stop here!" Gatsu yelled to his men from inside his armored carriage as he abruptly put his hand up.

"But sir," Gatsu's second in command, Wade spoke from within the carriage as well. "We are almost at Glanesworth. Why are we stopping here?"

"Call it a battle instinct, but I think we're about to be ambushed." Gatsu responded. "Men, ready yourself for battle!"

As that order was given, the thirty elite soldiers began spreading out. Archers readied themselves by leaping onto high trees and readying their bows. Many berserkers and swordmasters surrounded the armored carriage, wanting to protect their general. Mounted units began patrolling a small area, looking for any sight of the enemy. Many minutes went by in chaotic silence.

Wade readied his lance and his heavy armor as he stepped out of the carriage. The silence was getting him as well. "Grand General, could you have been mistaken?"

"No…" Gatsu spoke from within the carriage as his eyes were closed under his massive white and horned heavily armored helmet, "The enemy is getting closer…It's just one man! This is our target, troops be vigilant!"

Suddenly out of the night, a figure leaped from the trees and began slashing violently with poison tipped daggers the many archers who had hoped to catch the enemy off guard. Those on the ground watched in horror as the warrior leaped from tree to tree killing off all five archers, unable to be hit by arrows.

"Sir he's eliminated our range!" Wade spoke as he readied javelins to throw towards the warrior. "He moves like lightning."

"This guy is too much for these men." Gatsu thought, "If we continue to fight him this way, the second part of our mission involving the destruction of Glanesworth could be compromised. This is probably what he wants us to do, but I have no choice but to send the troops onward."

Amidst the chaos, Gatsu once again barked orders as he jumped out of the carriage. "Listen Men, rush towards Glanesworth and destroy the village. Leave this one to me. I'll take care of him!"

As the soldiers obediently began to run on the path leading south to Glanesworth, Kyle continued to jump and kill many soldiers from behind. As he was about to strike down Wade from behind, right in the weak spots of his armor, a giant blade about seven feet tall came crashing down onto the ground in front of Kyle. The assassin leaped high in the air and did several back flips to dodge the impact of the sword. As Kyle landed on the ground he tracked the massive piece of steel back to its hilt and laid eyes on its owner.

Gatsu stood at least eight feet tall. He was an incredibly large man, wearing armor that had to weigh at least four hundred pounds. The armor was made of solid silver and painted white. He also wore a bright yellow cape signifying his excellence in the White Alliance. In one hand he wielded his eight foot sword that most men couldn't even carrying with both limbs. In the other he held a massive kite shield that was made of solid silver as well with a gold emblem of a roaring bear on it.

"So you single handedly destroyed an entire Alliance Keep." Gatsu spoke through his massive white helmet. His voice was deep, loud, and gruff. "Warriors such as you are rare to come by, and you're so young! Go ahead; try to entertain me, boy!"

Gatsu began to swing his large sword effortlessly as if it was a short rapier. His strokes with the massively destructive weapon were swift and powerful. Kyle had to jump as high as he possibly could and as far as he could to dodge each strike. As he moved out of the way, the sword leveled the forest, taking out trees, rocks, and even solid chunks of the terrain.

"I have to try to attack him from a distance to avoid the full damage potential of that sword." Kyle thought to himself as he lunged behind a tree.

The assassin ran out from the cover of the tree and began throwing smaller throwing knives he had in his backpack towards Gatsu. Each blade was aimed towards vital areas of the large man's body that probably didn't have as much armor as the rest of his body. Gatsu moved his massive shield over his body to protect against the barrage of about twenty knives that were thrown in his direction.

"You will have to do better than that, kiddo." Gatsu spoke from behind his shield. His eyes examined the knives that hit the ground and saw the green tips they all had. "Though I must say, the poisoned tips is a very nice touch."

"Surely you're not getting tired yet, old man?" Kyle taunted the white knight. "I'm just getting warmed up!"

"What is your name?" Gatsu asked as he lowered his shield and pointed his blade at Kyle. "I consider it a sign of respect to ask the name of my advisories before I end their lives."

"You can call me Kyle." The blue assassin spoke, "But you won't be alive long enough to enjoy the luxury of using my name."

"And I am Gatsu, the great White Knight of the Alliance. Let us end the pleasantries and continue our battle…but you and I both know you are going to have to step it up if you want to come close to injuring me. I am finished playing!"

Before Gatsu was even done speaking he hurled his massive shield towards Kyle. The shield moved so quickly and with such force that Kyle knew he'd be impaled if he was hit by it. The warrior lunged towards the shield and transformed into his blue wolf form and leaped over the shield. As a wolf he was able to leap far higher than he could as a humanoid.

"Absolutely marvelous!" Gatsu said as he began swinging his sword at the swift blue beast. "It has been some time since I have seen a creature such as you!"

As Gatsu swung his blade towards Kyle, the wolf leaped onto the sword and began running up the blade until he was close to the Grand General's neck. He readied himself for the killing bite, but Gatsu dropped his blade and moved his arm in the way of the wolf. Instead of biting his neck, Kyle chomped down on Gatsu's gauntlet.

Gatsu let out a strong moan of pain as the silver protecting his hand crushed down from the impact of the wolf's bite. With his other arm, Gatsu punched Kyle off of him. The wolf flew from the impact and hit a tree. He let out a painful whelp as it slowly rose to his feet. Gatsu quickly took off the broken gauntlet on his now injured right hand. It had been a long time since the White Knight of the Alliance experienced the thrill of battle such as this. Suddenly within Gatsu's head he heard a voice of great authority.

"Gatsu, my White Knight, return at once!" The voice said. "I am gathering the Nine, and you must report back to Tystera as soon as possible for a matter of great importance. You have my permission, as Lord of the White Alliance, to abort your mission and leave your comrades immediately."

Gatsu cursed as he acknowledged his orders. He looked deep into the eyes of his furry enemy and spoke. "I must take a coward's leave as his Excellency has summoned me. You, Kyle…I hope you stay alive long enough for us to meet again. I have invested interest in you and want to complete this duel one day."

After Gatsu spoke he withdrew from his belt a ruby red triangle. He threw the triangle in the air, and it grew into a massive triangle that sucked the great knight of the alliance into it and wisped him far away in a shining red light.

Kyle quickly transformed back into his humanoid form and sat by the tree catching his breath. He also cursed, as he too wanted to finish that battle. As he was considering the chance he had of actually winning against the White Knight, Kyle heard the faint buzz of his crystal. He withdrew his luminous magical orb from the backpack to see it glowing. Without thinking, the Laguz from the wolf tribe transformed once again and ran away to a secure area so he could hear his next mission. Unknown to the injured blue wolf, a sneaky archer nomad was watching him from a distance.

Meanwhile back in Glanesworth the White Alliance troops stood no chance of survival. As they ran towards the flame wall, they were unable to find the mage who stood within the flames and shot out massive infernos, incinerating the soldiers one by one. Any of the quicker units that were able to get past the infernos were instantly tackled by a large red cat or massive green tiger and painfully mauled to death. After all soldiers had been eliminated Hrothgar reverted to his humanoid form and let out a shout for joy.

"Woo hoo! We have apprehended all the enemy forces!" he spoke, "Let's get rid of these fires and make sure all the villagers are safe."

"I wonder if Kyle made it out okay?" Katt spoke as she too reverted to her more female appearance.

"He's still alive." Wesley spoke as he rode back on his horse, surprising all three mercenaries. "I was able to sit and watch his entire battle with Gatsu, one of the greatest warriors in the White Alliance. I must say, that man was truly amazing for standing up to the White Knight like that. His combat moves are unreal! The fight was a draw, but man…those two were in a league of their own."

"Well if he survived then where is he?" Titus asked as he concentrated to absorb the flames into his tome.

"I saw him run off after the battle. At first he seemed as if he was resting, but then he took out this glowing ball from his backpack and just took off after that. I came back to see if we should follow him or what?"

"Good riddance!" Hrothgar said frustrated at Kyle's attitude, "That guy attracts trouble…if we hang around him to long, we'd probably wind up dead somewhere!"

"I'm not so sure if attracting trouble is what Kyle is all about." Katt spoke with a hint of admiration in her eyes. "I know he wasn't the warmest guy…but something tells me that he's come here to PREVENT trouble. Let's leave him be, Kyle's gone off to go help some other people, I think…I just hope we can see him again! I can't imagine how lonely he must feel being the last of his kind. Like him or not, we could not have saved Glanesworth without him!"


	5. Battle at South Tide Part I

**Chapter Four**

**Battle at South Tide Part 1**

Deep within the woods of Magnor , located on the southern most edge of Tyseria, existed a small city known as South Tide. South Tide was one of the oldest cities on the continent and prided itself on sending out to the rest of the region the most well-trained mercenaries and warriors. The city itself was politically independent and those within South Tide considered themselves neutral. South Tide did not consider the White Alliance its authority, nor did it join in the many rebellions that occurred in this day and age. The town did have quite the reputation however of sending many trained warriors to aid both the Alliance and any rebels that could manage to pay higher end prices.

Within the walls of South Tide a young girl perused the outdoor merchant posts in the city that was made up of only tents and tree houses. The fourteen year old girl with long blonde hair tied in a pony tail and blue sparkling eyes passed many merchandise tables before she found the one she was looking for near the blacksmith. The table was covered with numerous quivers of arrows. The arrows were made of all kinds of materials whether it was wood, iron, steel, or even silver.

"Hi! I'll take these quivers please." The girl spoke cheerfully as she pointed to four quivers, each with different types of arrows.

"My goodness!" The pudgy middle aged man with a full beard working the table spoke with a chuckle as he looked at the girl. "Aren't you a little young to be buying bows and arrows. These aren't toys you know? But if you're looking for some toys, I know a man down at that table just past the fountain who makes wooden boats that the kids here love to play with."

The girl ignored the man's comment about her age, but deep down she felt like he was being very condescending and rude. In an effort to put him in his place, she reached into the small pocket of her green tunic and pulled out a small purple bag made of cloth and poured out many pieces of gold. The man's eyes opened with amazement and desire as the individual pieces made beautiful clanging noises as they collided with each other before touching the wooden merchandise table.

"D-did your parents give you all that money?" The man stuttered as he tried to regain his composure. "That's an awful of coins to give to such a young girl…if you lost them."

"My parents didn't give me this money." She said as she picked up ten gold coins. "I guess you could say I kind of ran away a couple years ago from my home. All this money is sort of the payment I get from my job now…I'm a pretty independent woman, you see. So, will ten gold pieces suffice? That's what'd they cost in any other town, so I am just guessing."

"Well I suppose if you have the money there is nothing more I can do then give you these arrows, right?" the vendor spoke with a smile as he handed the blonde haired girl the quivers. As he spoke he examined the girl. He saw on her back a very nice bow made of steel that was made to fit her small size. From there his eyes went to a very unique amulet resting on her neck with a light blue stone in it's center. "That's a very interesting amulet you have there Miss. Any chance I could offer you a fair price for it?"

The girl's lifted her hand and rubbed the amulet with her fingers as she let out a nervous laugh. "I'm afraid not. This amulet is very special. I don't want to sell it."

She turned and began walking away and as she followed a dirt path, she noticed three men walking towards her. In the middle the man was shorter than the other and very elderly. The two men on his side were middle aged adults who were both heavily armed. The young girl's eyes instinctively fluttered around observing every detail of the three men. The middle must have been the village head and the other two must be his body guards, or perhaps high ranking soldiers of South Tide's garrison. Many warriors from South Tide would leave to pursue their dreams as mercenaries, but some would stay and live in the town and serve as a garrison to protect South Tide. As this female looked at these three men approaching her, she wondered if she had done something to offend someone in the town. She couldn't think of anything.

"My you seem to be a very mature young lady." The elderly man standing in the middle spoke with a friendly smile on his face. "What is your name?"

"You can call me Artemis." The girl spoke. "And thank you so much for your compliment."

"Well then, it certainly is nice to meet you Artemis!" The man spoke, "My name is Janas and I am the town mayor and oldest residing citizen here in South Tide. This man to my left is my son, Randolph, and he is the Chief of our Garrison."

"You'll have to forgive our straight forwardness, Miss Artemis." Randolph spoke sternly as looked into the girl's eyes. "You see, usually the only business our weapon and armor blacksmiths receive is from our own mercenaries—"

"And you're wondering who I am and why I'm buying these arrows." Artemis completed his sentence. "Don't worry, I mean you all no threat! I am a bit of a wanderer. In my travels I often have to defend myself and the bow and arrow is my weapon of choice. I came to South Tide to stock up on supplies, maybe stay the night, and leave tomorrow. If this is a problem, I would be more than happy out of respect to your beautiful town and leave now."

As Artemis was speaking, the armed man who Janas had not introduced turned around, took notice of another figure walking towards the area, and turned and spoke softly to Janas and Randolph. Even though she was sure that they wouldn't want her to do it, Artemis focused her keen hearing to listen in on the conversation.

"That man approaching us," The garrison soldier spoke, "he's an Alliance soldier. By the looks of how he dresses, I'd say he is among their highest ranking."

"I'd say so too." The elder whispered back as he looked in the direction of the approaching Alliance man, "From his regal dress it's clear he's one of the Alliance's Nine Warlords. Let us go see what he wants."

Randolph and his soldier turned to walk away and before Janas followed them he turned back to Artemis and spoke again. "We must go and greet another visitor. Regarding your desire to stay the night, that would be absolutely wonderful. Even though you are clearly more mature then most girls your age, I couldn't live with myself if I let a girl your age go out without a warm bed, hospitable welcome, and a fresh lunch for the road from South Tide. In fact…I actually have a granddaughter your age, Artemis. She's always has to hang out with me, her grandmother, and other old people that probably bore young things like yourself to death…If you don't mind, why don't you stay the night at our tree house? We have an extra bed and I'm sure Claire would love to meet you!"

Artemis smiled warmly, "Sure that would be great…Thank you Mayor Janas."

The mayor, Randolph, and his subordinate left Artemis and approached the man wearing a white robe and a golden crown. He had very thin eyes, a confident face that seemed to permanently hold a smirk. His robe's back had a black emblem that looked like this: It was a large circle and inside the circle there was a insignia for fire (it looked like a single fire), water (a rain drop), and lightning (a lightning bolt). To anyone who was educated in the world of anima, they could tell this man was considered a master in their culture and was one of the few magic users accomplished enough to be considered a Great Sage. Artemis watched and listened as Janas spoke with this man.

"What a surprise to see such a high ranking Alliance official here in our town of South Tide?" Janas spoke to the man. His voice was polite, but it also held a tone of suspicion. "To what do we owe this surprise?"

"Ahh so it appears you know a little about who I am." The man said, with a somewhat troublesome smile. "Well, I won't waste to much of your time, mayor, and I'll cut right to the chase. His Excellency is very grateful for all the mercenaries that have been trained in this town that have gone on and served the Alliance. He strongly desires to include your wonderful town under the wing of protection the Alliance offer's all of its cities so you all can continue training your mercenaries in a safe environment. My Lord was hoping, by sending me, Darius of the Nine Warlords to speak to you personally, you would better appreciate how much we want to join forces with South Tide."

"It's a honor to meet one of the Famous Warlords of the White Alliance," Janas spoke, "but I'm afraid you'll have to go back and tell the good Emperor Steelron that South Tide still has the intention to remain neutral and serve under no nation. We have no desire to oppose the Alliance, but we simply disagree with their intentions of taking over the entire region of Tyseria. As a Mercenary Colony, we refuse to sacrifice our ideals simply to better our town economically by putting it in the pocket of the White Alliance."

Darius arrogant smile simply changed to a look of indifference towards his purpose of coming as a difference, and disdain towards Janas himself. As he glared at the mayor he spoke: "Well, I can see that my presence here will not at all change your mind. You clearly are one of those leaders who can't see what's best for his own town. The White Alliance has offered you protection from our enemies time and time again, and South Tide has refused us every time. Well, my friend, consider this the last offer…I do hope you can live with yourself should the day ever arrive that it becomes clear to you what true power you have turned down so confidently and so flippantly."

With this Darius turned and walked away from Janas, not even allowing him to give a counter comment to the statement the Great Sage made that sounded like it could _almost_ be a threat. When the magician was a fair distance away, Randolph nodded to his subordinate to follow the sage to see what exactly he was up to.

Darius left the town and moved silently through the forest. When he was a few miles away, his lieutenant jumped from the shadows provided by a nearby tree to the Great Sage's side and spoke.

"Did negotiations work well, my Lord?" the Lieutenant asked.

"Of course not." Darius spoke with a wicked smile. "As we knew they wouldn't. Those South Tide fools are too wrapped up in their ideals of justice that they would never surrender to the White Alliance due to words alone. I'm glad they didn't; now we can enjoy the fun part of the mission that we all came here excited to get involved with. Are the troops ready?"

"They are in position as you ordered, sir." The Lieutenant responded. "Sir, permission to speak freely?"

"Only if I have permission to personally destroy you should you say something I disapprove of." Darius responded as he grinned wickedly at his Lieutenant who appeared mildly intimidated by General who had the reputation as the Great Tactician of the White Alliance.

"It's nothing to serious really…" The man spoke as his voice quivered. "It's just, didn't you say that you were called by His Excellency recently to report to a very important meeting of the Nine? If you want…you could leave the technicalities of this battle to me and return to His Majesty. I would hate for you to be late."

"Please," Darius laughed at his Lieutenant's ignorance. "The majority of the other Nine have very limited and slow transportation back to Tystera. I, on the other hand, only have to think of the location and my magic will teleport me there. I will see this battle to its end and then return to the Emperor."

"Very well, General." Darius's subordinate replied. "Then what are your orders."

"I will return to the men and give them the orders to start moving towards South Tide. You will follow me shortly, but first, please dispose of that filthy sellsword wretch that has been tracking us. His lowlife stench is an insult to my strong senses."

"As you wish, my Lord." The Lieutenant smile maliciously as he faded into the forest, readying his swift blade.

Meanwhile back in South Tide, Artemis found herself in the Mayor's treehouse sitting with his twelve year old granddaughter, Claire. Artemis watched as Claire played with dolls innocently. The very skilled sniper smiled to herself as she watched the other girl. She knew that this was the life that her parents at home want her to live right now. The innocent childhood that Artemis left the day she responded to the call of the Crystal was something that she couldn't help but envy in the eyes of Claire. With that said, Artemis also knew that she could never truly be satisfied in such a life knowing all the injustices that go on daily thanks to the tyranny of the White Alliance. As Artemis sat on her cot deep in thought, Claire looked up and spoke pleasantly to her.

"You're not into dolls are you?" She spoke friendly. "Grandfather said you are an adventurer. I imagine these kiddy toys are so boring to the whole wide world outside these walls. I wish I could go on an adventure too!"

As she spoke, Claire had lifted herself from the sitting on the ground and walked over to Artemis's bow, which balanced on a wall. She picked it up and aimed it nowhere in particular as she imagined herself as an archer. Artemis let out a giggle as she looked at Claire's lack of good marksmen posture.

"It's actually kind of refreshing to be here right now." She said, "I guess you can say I've been pretty busy lately with my…well, wandering. Coming here and enjoying a nice home cooked meal with your family…it's very nice."

Artemis and Claire's conversation stopped abruptly as the door to the tree house swung open and Claire's father, Randolph ran in and found the Mayor sitting at a chair resting.

"Father!" Randolph spoke seriously with a sense of urgency. "Wayne's body was found not far from outside of town, slashed into pieces. It's clear that this was done by an Alliance officer! Scouts went further out of the town and discovered that there is a small army being led by that Sage, Darius, who came by here earlier. Since we refused to join them, it looks like the Alliance wants to destroy us! I've assembled every able bodied Mercenary from our garrison. We must defend our town, though I do not know how we will fair, as the enemy has many more then we do."

"We must prepare for the worst." Janas spoke grimly. "Have a few of your men with the quickest horses travel south to the ocean and ready us several boats. I will lead any villagers that choose not to fight to the boats and we will be able to retreat through the sea."

"Understood." Randolph spoke as he turned to leave. "I'll lead the warriors into battle. We may not fully defeat those Alliance Dogs, but the resistance they face today will go down in the history books as one of the Alliance's greatest causality count for a victory!"

As the Mercenary Garrison Commander was preparing to leave, Artemis grabbed her bow from Claire and leaped from the second story down to the first story right in front of Randolph. The quick jump for a moment startled Randolph, but he quickly composed himself.

"Allow me to help you, Commander." Artemis spoke, "You all have been so nice to me, it's the least I can do. I think you'll find I am very good with a bow…I have certain qualities that make me invaluable in battle. One more on your garrison couldn't hurt your chances!"

"I couldn't live with myself if I let a child like yourself join this battle, even if you are as good as you say you are." Randolph said as he smiled proudly at Artemis. He was impressed with her courage even if he doubted her ability.

"You don't understand…" Artemis started to speak even though she knew she could not speak of what it was that Randolph truly didn't understand. As a fourteen year old girl, how could she possibly tell a grown man and military commander that she was skilled enough to level an entire army and have him actually believe her?

"My answer is No." Randolph said as he gently pushed Artemis out of the way and continued out of the tree house.

"Argh!" Artemis moaned in frustration, "Doesn't he know that his entire garrison will be leveled quickly? Well, I'm still going out there to help him!"

"Now you just hold on one minute." Janas spoke from behind Artemis very sternly, as he stood up. "I need to have a word with you, girl."

"I don't have time for…" Artemis started to speak, but the Mayor interrupted her.

"You make time to hear an old man like myself to speak, you just may learn something." He said as his wise blue eyes penetrated her own eyes. "When a warrior gets as old as I have he starts to sense things that younger warriors, even those as experienced as my son may not be able to notice. I look at you and simply by the way you compose yourself as a lady, it is clear to me that you have great combat skills for a girl your age. I watched you carefully pick out only the best particular quivers at our blacksmith's merchandise table. When we approached you this afternoon for the first time, before I even spoke to you, Artemis, you had fully scanned me, Randolph, and Wayne and you had already discerned what weapons we were carrying and the quickest way to kill us should the need arise. I also noted as you spoke to me that you were using your peripheral vision to scan the area to see if there were any other warriors around. Reflexes like this are rare even among the greatest warriors. Such observation skills like that may have even saved Wayne's life today as he attempted to follow that Great Sage, Darius.

"It also occurs to me that you wander alone with nothing but a bow and a mysterious amulet that you choose to hold closely to yourself." Janas continued, "Now I have heard rumors about a handful of warriors that have been sighted all over Tyseria recently. These warriors seem to have incredible skill and power. From what I've heard not only are they well trained, they seem to all possess at least one unusual ability. Also, another factor they all share is that they travel alone and fight against entire White Alliance armies independent of any help whatsoever. I look at you, and I must say, I am more compelled to believe that these rumors are true."

"So you know who I am…" Artemis said, amazed at Janas's insight and perception. "and you let me stay in your village? Furthermore, why didn't you encourage Commander Randolph to let me fight with him…if you know how good I am, you know that…"

"I also know something else that I am not sure you have thought of yet." Janas continued to speak. "It appears the enemy is planning on completely eliminating all those who live in South Tide because we are determined not to dedicate ourselves to Vladius Steelron. If that's so, surely someone as smart as Darius would have thought that we'd be sending our women, children, and elderly to the ocean for a safe retreat."

"Which means Dariius will have some of his army there too…" Artemis acknowledged this cruel realization.

"Our troops will have a hard enough time surviving when they all work together against the main force of the Alliance coming this way. Should we divide them, we may as well forget about any chance of survival we have. Artemis, I asked you to stay the night with us because I had hope you'd help escort my village's people to safety at the ocean. It seems you're the only enemy of the Alliance that Darius did not consider in his wise planning."

"You…" Artemis was stunned at how intelligent this old man. "You were thinking of this the entire time once you knew Darius was coming to try to convince South Tide to join the Alliance, weren't you? I'm very impressed…well, I definitely will escort you all to the boats safely, but don't think I'm coming with you when we get to the ocean. I'll be rushing back to try to save South Tide too…I really like this town, and would hate to see it go!"

Janas smile with relief as he watched Artemis ready her battle gear. "You are one extraordinary young woman, Artemis. Fate has smiled on South Tide today by having you cross paths with us."

"I don't suppose we have much time do we?" Artemis spoke, "When we do have a moment to spare, perhaps you can tell me more about these many appearances of SEVERAL warriors like me…I was under the impression that I was the only one! But not right now…we must prepare our getaway!"


End file.
